Damage Profile In Ion-Bombarded Nickel and Stainless Steel

Type 316 stainless steel and pure nickel were bombarded at ambient temperature with 1.0 MeV He-ions and 130 MeV Cl-ions, respectively. The cross sectional microstructure observed with a transmission electron microscope was compared with the damage profile calculated by using the extended E-DEP-1 computer code. The depth distributions of the dislocation loops and cavities in the He-ion bombarded stainless steel were in good agreement with the calculated displacement damage and injected helium distribution curves. The peak positions of the number density for the loops and cavities at depths of 1.53 and 1.60 μm, respectively, agreed well with those of the calculated damage distribution curves at 1.57 and 1.66 μm from the bombarded surface. In the case of Cl-ion bombardment to pure nickel, the swelling peak appeared at a depth of 14 μm which was 16% deeper than the displacement damage peak calculated to be 12.1 μm. The results indicate that the damage profile in He-ion bombarded stainless steel is described with the calculation using the extended E-DEP-1 computer code, at least up to an energy of 1 MeV. More accurate electronic stopping power is required to estimate the damage profile produced by heavy-ions with high energies.